General Tiger Tom

Well, MooShoo has been replaced! Yesterday evening, Andrew came home with a very handsome kitty who I immediately dubbed General Tso (is that how you spell it?). Abigail said, "O! I wanted to name him Tiger Tom!" Tiger Tom suits him much better so I easily gave in... but secretly am keeping the 'General'. This little tiger is more wily than the others and you can tell he is destined to be a great hunter. He chases and stalks bugs on a regular basis. I think he is quite a fine little kitty!

Busy as Bees

Wow! This past week seems to have flown by! We made jars and jars of pickles - a batch of regular ol' bread and butters and a whole bunch of lacto-fermented pickles. I'm very excited about those. They are so easy! Basically, you add whatever herbs and spices you want (garlic, onion, mustard seeds, hot pepper flakes, dill, etc.) to the bottom of the jars. Then you pack in sliced cukes (you could use small pickling cukes, but I didn't have small ones so I sliced them a bit less than 1/8" thick with a food processor). Pack them in TIGHT!!! You can cram a LOT! After the jar is full, pour a brine (pre-made with 1 1/4 Tbsp sea salt per quart of water) over top the cukes, release air bubbles, put lids on and loosely tightened rings and let set for a few days at room temperature. I recommend putting old news papers under the jars as a lot of juices will escape - especially in this warm weather!! After a few days, move to cool storage (a cellar would do wonderfully!) Before I moved the 1st batch to cool storage I opened the jars, pushed down the cukes and added a bit of brine to make sure they were totally under water; put the lids and rings back on and wait 4-6 weeks before eating!

How simple can it be!!!

Lets see... we also made pesto; Abbi made biscuits; I made corn-bread with freshly milled corn and wheat (It was AMAZING!!!!); we picked the first beans from our garden; the kids read poems about some wildflowers that are in bloom, found the flowers, then drew them; I went swimming almost every day (SO much better than running - which I don't do. Ever.); Andrew fixed Annie's roof; we played outside; built train tracks; tortured the kittens; and a bunch of other things that I can't remember!!! Today, we're going to make a big crock of sauerkraut! Some friends of ours gave us 18-20 cabbages; we're going to make the sauerkraut and give them back half. I think that is a GREAT deal!

Speaking of kittens, MooShoo passed on. We don't really know what happened, but Andrew found him Satruday morning, unconscious in the driveway. He didn't last long. We had a funeral for him; Abigail wrote his name on a rock with bright blue chalk - to match the color of his eyes. Now, ChowMein and Elroy are absolutely the best of pals! They are like Milo and Otis, playing, sharing food, chasing each other around. Actually, ChowMein is usually the instigator! Elroy follows his lead.

Another sad thing happened: two of our chickens, Gertrude and Josie, mysteriously disappeared. One evening, they just didn't come home! We're still hoping that they might show up, but as time goes on, the chances of that happening are less and less.

So, that is a bit of what we've been doing!

Incredible!

Our neighbor has a lovely pond out behind his house, tucked amongst some trees. It is fairly hidden from view of anyone - a beautiful, calm, quiet spot. The water is clear; gazing into it you can see scores of Sally and Mander's cousins (remember our newts from this spring?) Frogs chirrup and croak along the edge of the water, jumping in as soon as someone steps too close. Above the water, myriad damsel flies hover and swoop. They are the most brilliant turquoise blue, like little flying jewels, delicate yet bold. There are larger dragon flies with buzzing wings that dart from shore to shore. Along the edge grow wild flowers: Queen Anne's Lace, Crown Vetch, Bird's Foot Trefoil, even Forget-me-nots. Swallows swoop right down to the water, gobbling up tasty bugs, then swooping high up into the air only to turn and come back for a second course.

Yesterday we all went down there for an afternoon dip. The children giggled and squealed, splashed and kicked. I got to take off across the pond for a nice swim. It was so incredible to have my eyes skimming right along the surface of the water viewing the damsel flies, the swallows, and the flowers from an entirely new perspective. It makes me stand in utter awe of the Creator - He who created vast mountain ranges... yet attends to the minutest detail on a brilliant turquoise insect; He who filled the oceans deep... yet fills hidden ponds with treasures waiting to be discovered by eager children; He who created all of humanity... yet formed and fashioned me, knowing the depths of my heart better than I. Incredible, Amazing, Wonderful Lord, worthy, so worthy of all my praise and adoration! Incredible!

Note to Self:

Never put "Olbas Oil" (Eucalyptus, Peppermint, Wintergreen, and more) into your neti-pot rinse. The initial reaction is unfavorable (though it did seem to help in the long run.)

Some More Additions!

Below you will see some pictures of the newest additions to the Bajus mini-farm! I have to confess that they are not very high on my list of favorites, but I sure am getting a kick out of watching the children with them. Their purpose is to reduce the number of chipmunks around here - they sure have their work cut out for 'em! In the pictures below, Liam is holding the one named "Chow Mein" and Abigail is holding "MooShoo." Yes, I named them. I honestly can't believe Chow Mein tolerates Liam holding him! In fact, he seems to like it!

And here is my monkey:

There really is no holding him back. I remember climbing on precarious things as a child; I survived (and so did my mother!)

Finally, here is a picture of calendula blossoms from my garden. I'm drying them so I can use them in skin salve making. How exciting to use herbs from my own little garden!!

Whew!

Wow! I feel like I've been running around for the past few weeks like a chicken with its head chopped off! For the past three weekends we've taken some mini trips with Annie (the Duck Bus), coming home in time for us to get our vegetables from our crop share we are a part of, to do laundry, to repack Annie and be off again! I'm ready to stay home for a couple of weeks - long enough to put a new roof on Annie, put up some summer veggies, visit with people around home, and plan for our next adventure. Anyone want some visitors?

So, what HAVE we been doing? Well, we visited great-grandparents that first weekend (you saw a few pictures from that!) The next weekend was SO FUN! We journeyed to PA and went camping with three other couples and their kids. We were at a private little camp-site that was right on a lovely little river. Tall trees grew up along the banks of the cool river; the bottom was mostly soft, slimy clay that the kids coated themselves with! One of the other ladies and I rode little floaty tubes down the river - we saw so many different kinds of dragonflies and birds. The air was pleasantly warm and the water perfectly cool so that we could have floated forever with out a shiver! I hadn't had that much fun since I don't know when!

We cooked meals over the fire, roasted marshmallows, drank campfire coffee, talked, laughed and enjoyed watching the kids be kids! It was wonderful!

We came home late Monday night (it is NICE to travel in an RV! The kids can eat, sleep, and be merry with no problem at all!) and turned around and pulled out again on Thursday for a mid-summer get together with all of Andrew's family. We did have a good time!

Now we are home. This morning (you won't believe this) the kids ALL slept til NOT 6:30 (the usual), NOT 7:30 (the occasional treat), but til 8:30!!! We (the kids and I) took the day off and did not much more than laundry and lounging - Abigail listened to Black Beauty for 2-3 hours, and only stopped because I mandated it.

And now, they are all in bed... and I soon to follow!

Date Night

Here's a new one: Worm Catching.

Yup! The Carpenter... uh... King Worm Catcher and his Lady Robin just got in from hunting Night Crawlers! Golly, I've not done this since I was a kid (and then only once!) I couldn't believe how FAST those suckers were! 3 or 4 would be visible under the light of the flashlight and as soon as you reached for one ZOOM! they were GONE! And when you did grab one, my goodness, they're LONG!

Anyway, that was fun. Next time we'll make it a family event; I'm sure you'll hear giggles and squeals clear across the country!

Photo Extravaganza

At long last I am posting some pictures of our recent past! Below you will see Phin's wound (the stitches are now out) our garden, my modest beginnings at "Preserving Food Without Canning or Freezing", my drying rack (made by the Carpenter), and some photos from our resent maiden voyage with Annie, the Duck Bus. Hope you enjoy! In no particular order...

Phin's Wound - pre stitches

My Drying Rack - with celery leaves spread atop

Preserving Food!!!

(Back Row) "Rumtopf", Dandelion Wine, Swiss Chard Ribs (SCR), SCR, SCR

(Row of 1 qt Jars) Black Raspberries in Brandy, Sauerkraut, Radishes, Celery, (little jar) SCR

(Pint jar in front) Broccoli Stem Kraut!

Lilly Digging

Garden View

Potatoes in Sacks

Calendula About to Bloom

Wind Swept

Dirt Eater

Garden View 2

The following pictures are from "Camp" - Andrew's Grandma's little home up on Lake Ontario.

And these are from "Schroon Lake," where my grandparents live during the summer.